Ground Meat And Burdock Root Over Rice - cooking recipe

Ingredients

150 g ground pork (mixed beef and pork or just beef is OK)
1 large burdock root
1 tablespoon ginger, grated (or about 3 inches if using a tube)
1 tablespoon garlic, grated (or about 3 inches if using a tube)
2 tablespoons sake
2 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons mirin
green onion, to taste
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 -2 cup cooked rice (2 cups if serving over plain rice, 1 cup if serving over fried cabbage and rice)
1 1/2 cups cabbage, shredded (optional)
shichimi chili powder, to taste

Preparation

Peel burdock root and cut it into long, thin diagonal strips (or 2 inch matchsticks) and soak in water (can add a touch of vinegar, but it's not necessary). Change the water a few times until clear.
Start to cook the ground meat with ginger and garlic and then add the drained burdock root and stir-fry.
Add the cooking sake, water, and soy sauce (note: don't add mirin yet - high sugar content can cause your dish to burn, so it goes in near the end), cover with a lid, and boil down for about 12 minutes. Add the mirin and cook for about another 3 minutes.
While the above is cooking down, if you are doing the fried cabbage and rice option instead of plain rice, heat the sesame oil and add cabbage and rice and fry up until the cabbage is just starting to brown.
Serve the burdock root and meat mixture over rice (or fried cabbage and rice) and add chili powder to taste.